Portable playpens for crawling age children are in widespread use. It is generally desirable to confine a young child in an enclosed play area at certain times both for the safety of the child and for the protection of articles in the room. This is particularly true when visiting another's dwelling which is strange to the child. Most portable playpen designs include a base having legs at each corner, and four vertically upstanding side walls typically formed of spaced bars disposed in a rectangular shape with a mesh material therebetween. In most prior art playpens, the bottom section and side walls are hinged so that the playpen may be folded in half for transport.
The major disadvantage of known playpen designs is that they are heavy and bulky making them difficult to transport in a vehicle or from one room to another. Many currently available portable playpens are simply too big to fit into the trunks of compact cars, or too heavy to be conveniently carried from house to car.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an enclosed play area for crawling age children which is portable, light weight and foldable into a small, easily transportable size.
It is another object of this invention to provide a multi-panel enclosed play area for children which is adapted to be arranged in virtually any configuration to conform to the dimensions and space of a room.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a multi-panel enclosure in which the panels are connected by hinge means adapted to articulate the panels in a relatively stiff or restricted manner so that small children may not pivot one panel relative to another and escape from the enclosure.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a multi-panel enclosed play area for young children which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.